Lion (version 10.7 of OS X) brings a number of features from the iPad to the Mac, among others. Apple breaks down some of the new features in its press release announcing the new developer preview:

Lion features Mission Control, an innovative new view of everything running on your Mac; Launchpad, a new home for all your Mac apps; full screen apps that use the entire Mac display; and new Multi-Touch™ gestures. Lion also includes the Mac App Store?, the best place to discover, install and automatically update Mac apps.

Mission Control is like Exposé and Spaces on steroids, giving you tons of control over windows and workspace management. Launchpad basically brings iOS home screens to your Mac, allowing you to quickly organize apps. In addition to full-screen and multi-touch gestures, Lion also introduces support for Auto Save and Resume in Mac apps, which should essentially mirror the way apps can quit and jump back to exactly where they left off using iOS’ multitasking features. And Versions should also be great for productivity, as it allows you to compare your current document to past iterations side-by-side.

Another great new change detailed in Apple’s press release is a brand new version of Mail, which brings “an elegant, widescreen layout inspired by the iPad; Conversations, which automatically groups related messages into one easy to read timeline; more powerful search; and support for Microsoft Exchange 2010.” I never stray far from using Mail in OS X, but these changes sound like they’ll be huge improvements to a product that is admittedly showing its age.

The main new features in OS X Lion were all shown off when Apple first unveiled the new operating system, and you can see our more detailed look at each individual aspect of the new OS in Alex’s article about the 10.7 launch announcement. As users dig into the new developer preview, I’m sure we’ll see many more details emerge regarding Apple’s latest major OS update.

Now the only real questions are, can I take my 18 GB Entourage mail store back to Apple Mail and will it do a better job of not choking in the new version? (Not that Entourage is beautiful software by any stretch.)

“Lion Server is now part of Mac OS X Lion. Itâ€™s easy to set up your Mac as a server and take advantage of the many services Lion Server has to offer. Here are just a few of the new features that make server deployment faster, easier, and more powerful than ever.”